EKG testing saves lives!

Paul Zientarski, at our PE4life Academy Naperville Central High School, called me yesterday to share two more success stories.
 
Last week Naperville Central continues their program of offering free EKG testing to students.
 
Last year the district offered EKG trainings to 6000 high school students. I do not have the exact number of students that took advantage of the free screenings but it was a large number.
 
This year they are only screening freshman and transfer students. That will be the plan from this point forward. There is no need to administer EKG test annually.
 
Central had two students that had not signed up for the EKG screening but because of information teachers had discovered with these two students wearing heart monitors in class, the family changed their minds and decided to have their son’s screened.
 
In both cases PE teachers saw unusual heart rate readings on each child. One student walked an 18 minute mile and his heart rate was in the aerobic zone the entire time. Besides having the data from the heart monitor, it was also the observation of the teacher and the concern and wisdom of the teacher to pass the information on to the school nurse. The student that walked the 18 minute mile appeared to be in good shape, he was not overweight. The factor the student appeared fit raised a red flag for the teacher.
 
In the second case the student recorded extremely high heart rates and the heart rate was jumping higher at rapid rates. Again the nurse was notified and she made contact with the parents. Both students were recommended to see a cardiologist. Unfortunately because of the surplus of heart disease, it was going to some time before either student could make an appointment with a cardiologist. The nurse has a good suggestion. She recommended that both students participate in the EKG screening before they go to their appointments since the screening was scheduled this week.
 
The EKG screenings came back and both students were diagnosed with serious heart issues. One student had double tachycardia. The second student had a more serious issue, I forget the name of the heart disease, but it is the disease they discover that is the main reason to do EKG test on athletes. This student was a ticking time bomb that was a candidate for sudden athlete death syndrome.
 
Two young men may have had their lives save this week because a combination of a caring teacher and a modern physical education program (PE4life) using the modern technology of a heart monitor. Ask these parents, I think they would agree, every PE program in the country should be using heart monitors. Heart monitors should not be worn just to save the lives of a few students, but they should be worn to improve the lives of all students.